Geddesburg

Geddesburg. . Founded in 1832 by John and Robert Geddes, the agricultural milling hamlet of Geddesburg illustrates the tradition of water-power economic opportunity which spurred westward expansion in 19th century America. Traversed by two Native American trails, the narrows of the Huron River between Chalmers and Fleming Creeks, was a strategic location. In 1824 Robert Fleming used creek water to power the first sawmill in Washtenaw County. The Geddes brothers harnessed the Huron River and constructed a sawmill in 1826. Paper pulp, lime plaster and grist mills followed as more entrepreneurs built dams. A grist mill and a cider mill, built in the late 1800s by William Parker, are still extant and are part of the Parker Mill Park complex owned by Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission. The Michigan Central Railroad, built along the river's southern shore in 1839, enabled transport of mill and farm products., Geddesburg, with its school, post office, train depot, mills, farms and vernacular Greek Revival houses, prospered along both sides of the Huron. John Geddes (1801-1889) was a State Representative, Township Supervisor and Justice of the Peace as well as a founding member of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society. Geddesburg's location, 34 miles from Detroit, was also on the route of fugitive slaves following the Underground Railroad in the decades before and during the Civil War. John Geddes reportedly served as a "conductor” to freedom in Canada., At the turn of the century, Ann Arbor Water and Gas Company developed a steam plant on the original Geddes grist mill site. Washtenaw Light and Power Company purchased Geddes riverfront property for a larger dam to power steam turbines. By 1913, Detroit Edison had acquired property for five hydroelectric plants along the Huron. They were known as Barton, Argo, Geddes, Superior and French Landing. To house the five plant supervisors, Detroit Edison bought three existing homes and built two more on DECO (Detroit Edison Company) Court just south of the river. , The Geddes dam was rebuilt in a major construction project, and this hydroelectric plant operated from 1918 to 1959. It is no longer extant. The noted landscape architecture firm of Frederick Law Olmsted was commissioned to design naturalistic landscapes for large tracts of the company's land. Farmland, formerly belonging to Robert Geddes, was developed for recreational use by Detroit Edison employees. Vivienne Farms was a spacious weekend vacation center for female employees. The substation property was sold to the City of Ann Arbor.